Participants in this research study include patients with end-stage liver disease who are being prepared to undergo liver transplantation, as well as healthy individuals without medical problems who will serve as a comparison group. The purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between the metabolic abnormalities of liver function before and shortly after liver transplantation. This study will evaluate how metabolic function of the liver is deranged as a result of end stage liver disease, how this responds to a lactic acid-lowering drug called dichloroacetate (DCA), and how metabolic function returns to normal after liver transplantation.